Miles Ahead

[projekktor id=’23732′]

Don Cheadle stars as legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in Miles Ahead, a film he also co-wrote and directed. The film debuted as the closing night film at the New York Film Festival last year. Starring alongside Cheadle are Ewan McGregor, Emayatzy Corinealdi, LaKeith Lee Stanfield, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

In the midst of a dazzling and prolific career at the forefront of modern jazz innovation, Miles Davis (Cheadle) virtually disappears from public view for a period of five years in the late 1970s. Alone and holed up in his home, he is beset by chronic pain from a deteriorating hip, his musical voice stifled and numbed by drugs and pain medications, his mind haunted by unsettling ghosts from the past. A wily music reporter, Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor) forces his way into Davis’ house and, over the next couple of days, the two men unwittingly embark on a wild and sometimes harrowing adventure to recover a stolen tape of the musician’s latest compositions.

Though set in New York City, the film shot in Cincinatti, a city Cheadle praises. “Only three features have ever been shot there and we were very lucky because they had recently wrapped Todd Haynes’ film Carol and they were in a good place. Still, there were days when we had two cameras and only one operator available, because the other was working on another project. We also didn’t have use of the Steadicam for the first week. But fortunately everyone was totally committed.”

Miles Ahead is rated 18A.